In a significant move, Governor Satya Pal Malik gave his assent to the J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2014 which was passed by both the Houses last year in February granting 3 percent reservation to Pahari speaking people in Jammu and Kashmir . The struggle of these people plus support from all political parties paved the way for getting the benefits which otherwise by all counts, these people merited . Linguistic identity shall henceforth become the eligibility criteria for the Pahari speaking people in getting Government jobs in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The amendment provides for addition of a separate category of the persons belonging to Pahari community, clan or tribe having distinct cultural, ethnic and linguistic identity among the socially and educationally backward classes but other than scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes.
Despite full support from all political parties, these Pahari speaking people had to wait for around five years for final nod since it was first passed by both the Houses during the then NC- Congress Government in 2014. Earlier, it was proposed at 5% reservation to these people to amend the J&K Reservation Rules but the same was returned by the then Governor N N Vohra to the Legislative House for reconsidering the same in the light of certain legal and other deficiencies.
Pahari people are not only living in difficult mountainous areas but are living in pitiable condition with abject poverty. After the country was partitioned in 1947, geographical, social, economic and cultural links of the community with the plains of Punjab got disconnected and shelling from across the border and other factors rendered their vast land uncultivated. This reservation shall definitely go a long way in ameliorating their economic backwardness and inadequacy of representation.
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